New & Used Tunes
Mo Mack & Company
White Rose Media
2000
13 tracks
A scholar of the history of country and western music, Morris McClellan is at his best performing in the older country and folk styles. Mo Mack, as he calls himself, has a dry countrified voice and style reminiscent of artists like Doc Watson and Oscar Brand. Laid over a simple guitar backing, this voice has a powerful down-home feel. As is made clear by the songs on this release, attempts to ornament and fill out the arrangements can be counter-productive. At his best, Mo Mack is a simple country singer.
While his voice is well suited to American folk music, Mo Mack's voice and style are best suited to the old country-blues and country-gospel epitomized by Doc Watson and Jimmie Rodgers. Set against basic instrumentation, his vocals on New & Used Tunes are simple and unaffected, yet strong and emotional.
The traditional gospel song "I Am a Pilgrim" is by far the best song on this release. Up until the last few seconds, it comes across as a the heartfelt sentiment of a simple man in a very American Christian tradition. I would have left off the "oo oo ooo" backing vocals. The male repeats on some of the vocals do work well, giving a sort of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" nostalgia to the piece. The final twenty seconds is just too busy, with too many vocals struggling for primacy, and gives the lie to the simplicity of the rest of this song.
Mo Mack's classy arrangement of"Waiting for a Train" is another excellent example of what this singer does best. This is Jimmie Rodgers with the rough edges smoothed out, a soulful blues sung in an easy-going country style including some passable yodelling. More restrained in this song, the "oo oo ooo" vocals in the background are a nice touch to underline the lead vocal. It would be interesting to hear Mo Mack on a set comprising just this sort of old-timey country songs.
In contrast, Mo Mack's version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" is cluttered and unwieldy. There's way too much stuff going on in this arrangement, and it seriously detracts from both the bitter-sweet emotionality of the lyric and the distinctive rhythm that should underpin the whole thing. Although the tempo is not that fast, there seems to be a rush to get all the words out and, in the process, the underlying emotion is lost. There is also a sense that the various instrumentalists are fighting for the forefront, creating a chaos that undermines the classic structure of this piece. One longs for Lonnie Mack or Chuck Berry's original.
"Stars in My Crown" is another nostalgic country-gospel number with a distinct, if not blatant, Christian bias. While not exactly bluegrass, the backing vocals and instrumentals bring this piece a comfortable hillbilly ambience. This is pure American gospel music, filled with joy and hope.
With arrangements reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett, songs like "The Girl and the Rainbow" and "Let Peace Prevail" lose much of their potential. These songs might be much stronger with less instrumentation, simpler rhythms, and more traditional backing vocals (if any at all). In the current versions, the sense of the words, the story, is lost in the disorder of the musical presentation.
Mo Mack's version of Utah Philips' "If I Could Be the Rain" features a sweet emotional country vocal with solid instrumental backing and just the right amount of backing vocals. This arrangement brings to mind some of the more traditional country releases that came out in the mid-Sixties.
A bonus on this release is a sixteen-panel insert that includes a longish note from Mo Mack, background information on all of the songs, and a complete set of lyrics. It all makes very interesting reading.
New & Used Tunes is a mixed bag, a sort of sampler of different approaches that Mo Mack takes toward music. For those who are interested in hearing this artist at his best, listen for the several songs that revert to traditional country blues and gospel. If you're old enough, they'll take you back to great artists of an earlier time.
You'll find lots of information about Morris McClellan a.k.a. Mo Mack, as well as New & Used Tunes at momack.com.
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Review written: February 28, 2005
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